ADD and ADHD are diseases that became rampant with the approval of aspartame. If you read the 49 page report of the famed neuroscientist Dr. John Olney to the FDA Board of Inquiry you will understand why. Aspartame destroys the brains of our children. http://www.wnho.net/dr_olney1.doc

The FDA agreed with Dr. Olney and revoked the petition for approval of aspartame. See the aspartame documentary to find out how Don Rumsfeld who was CEO of Searle called in his markers to get the Board over-ruled. Sweet Misery: A Poisoned World, http://www.soundandfury.tv Another aspartame documentary that came afterwards interviewed Feingold, the ADD and ADHD people. They admitted the terms only began to be used at the time aspartame was released on the public.

There is a 1000 page medical text, Aspartame Disease: An Ignored Epidemic, http://www.sunsentpress.com by H. J. Roberts, M.D., that discuss the mechanisms by which neurodegenerative diseases are triggered or precipitated by aspartame, cancer, diabetes, obesity, etc. Consider what it can cause in children, psychiatric and behavioral problems, reduced IQ, memory loss, disorientation, difficulty thinking and
concentrating, visual blurring or even monocular blindness, drug interaction, and other disabilities including death. Read the Report For Schools, articles by world experts of aspartame: http://www.mpwhi.com/report_on_aspartame_and_children.htm

Consider aspartame is so poisonous that it triggers polychemical sensitivity syndrome. So when you go from aspartame (NutraSweet/Equal/Spoonful/Canderel, E951, Benevia, etc.) to say Splenda which is a chlorocarbon poison, liberating chlorine http://www.wnho.net/splenda_chlorocarbon.htm the victim can continue to the reactions to aspartame and pick up those from Splenda.

To make matters worse aspartame interacts with all drugs and toxins and even vaccines. It damages the mitochondria, the life of the cell. Aspartic acid, 40% of the molecule is an excitotoxin, a product that stimulates the neurons of the brain to death causing brain damage. Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills by neurosurgeon Russell Blaylock, M.D., http://www.russellblaylockmd.com

There is a safe sweetener called Just Like Sugar which is made from
chicory and orange peel (http://www.justlikesugarinc.com) It can be bought
in such places as Whole Foods and Wild Oats or on line. Go to the site map and see Heartbeat of America with William Shatner. They are interested in improving the health of America and give awards to those companies who make a difference. Mike Sylver, CEO and developer was awarded for actually providing a safe sweetener, which is even safe for diabetics. Aspartame on the other hand can not only precipitate diabetes but simulates and aggravates diabetic retinopathy and neuropathy, interacts with insulin, destroys the optic nerve and causes diabetics to go into convulsions.

Please publish these facts so the public will be educated. Actually there are millions of reports on the harm aspartame causes on the Internet by prominent physicians who are experts and corporate neutral. They have taken care of aspartame victims in the trenches of medical practice for years. Today we even have Aspartame Detoxification Centers.

ADHD (attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder) is not a disease. What germ causes it? None. It's a recent discovery. Why? It's a totally subjective diagnosis. It is nearly always diagnosed in boys. Perhaps this is nothing more than an attack on males by women-libbers. Boys are not supposed to be good little girls. They need to get out and play hard. We should not dope them with hazardous chemicals, or we are part of the problem. -- R.S.

ANSWER: What germ causes high blood pressure, heart attacks, most cancers and an array of numerous other illnesses? Germs are not the sole cause of illness. Many conditions are recent discoveries. Lyme disease, the metabolic syndrome and asbestosis are but a few of them. So what? Medicine constantly makes new discoveries and describes new illnesses. If by "subjective" you mean something that springs only from the minds of observers, ADHD is not subjective. It has many objective, quantifiable signs. Children with ADHD find it impossible to focus on a given task, like learning the alphabet or math. They can't sit still long enough to take in new information. They act impulsively and disruptively. They're not just acting like boys who like to roughhouse and be physically active. They find it impossible to sit still, even for short spells. ADHD is a severe impediment to learning the skills necessary to survive in and contribute to the world.

The medicines that treat ADHD don't dope children. They allow affected children to control impulses that are otherwise uncontrollable. No medicines should be used indiscriminately, but there is a time and place for the appropriate use of ADHD medicines.

Learned people have spent their lives studying ADHD and devising criteria for its diagnosis and treatment. If you choose not to believe them, that's your right. Let others choose to accept their evidence. It is not your right to deprive children in need of treatment medicine that can help them.

DEAR DR. DONOHUE:

It is difficult to get an opinion on the subject of artificial sweeteners like cyclamate, aspartame and Stevia. It is very important to me, a diabetic. Please discuss.

My doctor wants me on a low-sodium diet. How about the sodium in the sweetener sodium cyclamate? How about salt substitutes that appear to be a potassium salt? -- N.B.

ANSWER: Artificial sweeteners generate more heat than just about any other topic. Some such sweeteners are available in Canada but not in the United States and vice versa. Stevia, for example, can be sold in the U.S. only as a food supplement, but not as a sweetener. It's the product of an herb native to South America and is marketed as a sweetener in many other countries. Saccharin is available in the U.S. as Sweet'N Low, but it is not available in Canada. In Canada, Sweet'N Low is sodium cyclamate. That substance isn't for sale in the U.S. Aspartame (NutraSweet and Equal) arouses a great deal of bitter debate. A dedicated band of opponents think it causes many illnesses, including multiple sclerosis, headaches and cancers. The Food and
Drug Administration has examined the aspartame issue closely and is convinced it is safe for general consumption. I feel quite comfortable in using all artificial sweeteners currently on the market.

The sodium content of sodium cyclamate is too minuscule to upset a low-sodium diet.

Potassium chloride is often a substitute for sodium chloride, regular salt. People with kidney problems shouldn't use it, and people who take medicines that cause potassium retention ought not to take it. If you have neither and like the salty taste it gives to food, you can use it.